Ford 77 F100 Build up for the girlfriend (Aus) (3 Viewers)

[Droopz]

I have this posted over at Pirate, but I thought I'd get a bit more help with the fabrication side of things here, so I wanted to dump the build thread here as well just in case.

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Hi everyone from sunny Aus.

Well we finally bit the bullet and decided to do something about the GF's 2wd, LWB f100.

SWB 4x4 are getting bloody rare around these parts. so we bought a SWB 4x4 donor off ebay.
Big plan. Hopfuly it all comes together without too many dramas.

New truck is a 77 4x4 short wheel base. Comes with a 351 and 4speed. It's a bit more complete than these pics showed since after we paid (very little) for it the owner asked what we wanted him to do with all the panels. If we had of known there was more body with it we might have paid more.

The 302 2wd long wheel base she has now that we'll be using as the donor. It's a great truck, but it oversized for what she needs, and simply can't keep up with my chev FJ40 when we're out destroying the environment.

We were looking to do a small lift of the cab to fit he 33s, but I've been told since that they should fit without any work (can i get clarrification?). Then i'll make up a flat tray for her. Something like these I think, but with some kind of rear wheel arch/mud flap setup. We are still arguing about the tray style (tube vs box). Time will tell I guess.

 

[Droopz]

Pics from the first depot as the owners got it ready for shipping. Panels are in alot better condition than I imagined so I had hoped that I might be able to use this cab and keep the LWB in tact.

 

[Droopz]

Well a weekend's worth and it's about ready to start recieving donor parts.

Striping the wiring, lines, hoses etc...

Passenger panel has no bog so it will be getting painted and used instead of the slightly repaired black one. The rest of the metal work just wasn't as good as we'd hoped, so its back to using the black F100's metal. Also the 4x4 trans cover to save from having to cut the xfer case lever hole out.

Sits level and the spings feel great, if a little ridged.

Not much worth saving in the interior unfortunatly.

The de-cabbing process. The PO just bolted the front guards on for transport so they didn't like being lifted too much lol. I couldn't bothered taking them all off for it just o be scrapped anyway.

It's going to sit there until I know that I don't need anything else from it.

Just before firing up the 351. Started instantly, no smoke or misses and sounds the goods.

 

[Droopz]

Then we just spent a bit of time on the wire-wheels cleaning up the chasis abit before a coat of black Killrust.

Next up is to hang the exhaust and weld in a bit of chasis bracing as these things seem to twist like a slinky. Then we start moving parts over from the black F100.

 

[Droopz]

Well another weekends worth of work done.

Got the fuel tank cleaned up, painted and installed. Moved the good rear brakes from the LWB to the SWB. Then spent the rest of the arvo.night swapping the cab over.

A few things in the cab swap slowed me right down though. Since the steering setups are so different, I had to salvage the shafts and tube from the old cab. It took a while as all the bolts were rusted to buggery.

The second hickup came just as I was lowering the cab onto the 4x4 chasis, and I noticed there was section of heavy bracing in front for the crossmember that was going to prevent the radiator (and therefore the cab) from sitting where it was supposed to. A combination of raising the radiator slightly, a oxy (until it ran out) and a 9inch sorted it fairly quickly and the cab droped right on. It was a bit of a pian adjusting it the 45mm it need to line the bolt holes up but eventually it was all on and bolted up.

After hooking the 'new' steering column up and bolting it all in place I called it a night.

Some pics.

Not sure what I was doing here. I think i was removing the old hand brake.

Running the strap under the whole cab like this just wasn't working for us and wouldn't pick the rear ofthe cab up.

So it was back to the old wraping the roof style. No damage so it wasw all good.

Making ita family affair I decided that the GF's littel brother should be the one to cut the big ass brace out.

...Then he got the s***s and got his old man to hit it with the oxy. much faster. Until it ran out and he had to go back to grinding lol

All down and bolted in.

Thanks it for the weekend. Now ill spend the arvos hooking stuff up and start on the tray.

 

[Droopz]

Just a small update this arvo.

Decided that the 33s were a little too girly. So we have decided to lift the cab as originally planned and fit in some 35s.

This is the cab at the standard hight.

These are the lifting blocks we machined up for the lift. A little overkill but i wanted to play on the lathe

The GF spent the day cleaning up the cab. She got the floor all sanded and painted and fit the dash and speedo cable back up. The bench seat is prept and being sent to Darwin to be re-spung and upholstered.

Work has also begun on the tray. We have been given the bed off a retired landcruiser firefighting unit to use as a base.

All the important clearences and measurments are spot on. We just need to spend a bit of time clearing the bar work and tanks off, and make up a flare arrangment for the rear tires as the tray is a bit narrow for the 35s. Hopefully it turns out looking alright. If not, we scrap it and start from scratch as planned.

 

[Droopz]

Body is lifted. And the front 35s are fitted up and fit great.

Finally starting to look like a 4x4.

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That bring me upto date s o far. Heading back afterwork to fit up the rear tyres and lower the tray on and start hack it apart.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Cool build. I like how there is still a bit of land cruiser in it,